What the Democrats’ Platform Leaves Out: God and Jerusalem

Posted on Sep 4, 2012

Here’s something that won’t play well in the states that the Democrats most likely would have lost anyway in the upcoming presidential election: They have removed the word “God” from their platform.

The following is the portion from the 2008 platform in which the word “God” was taken out:

We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.

What’s more, they’ve also left out a clause from the party’s 2008 platform stating Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

CNN:

In 2008, Democrats wrote in their platform, “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel. The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.”

The 2012 platform contains no reference to Jerusalem, and maintains support for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians.

But the platform does read, “The President’s consistent support for Israel’s right to defend itself and his steadfast opposition to any attempt to delegitimize Israel on the world stage are further evidence of our enduring commitment to Israel’s security.”

Cue Republican outrage. In a written statement released Tuesday, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that it was “unfortunate that the entire Democratic Party has embraced President Obama’s shameful refusal to acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.” He added: “Four years of President Obama’s repeated attempts to create distance between the United States and our cherished ally have led the Democratic Party to remove from their platform an unequivocal acknowledgment of a simple reality.”

But lest you think the Democrats have lost all sense of faith and religion, rest assured they have not. In fact, as one Democratic official noted, there are plenty of other terms associated with religion in the party’s official platform.

ABC News:

Explaining the removal, a Democratic official explained: “The 2008 platform reference is ‘God-given’ and is about growing the middle class and making America fair, not actually about faith. The platform includes an entire plank on the importance of faith based organizations and the tremendous work that they do. Further, the language we use to talk about faith and religion is exactly the same vocabulary as 2008. I would also note that the platform mentions: ‘faith’ 11 times; ‘religion’ or ‘religious’ 9 times; ‘church’ 2 times (one is a quote); and, ‘clergy’ 1 time.”